


offensive tactics

by gentext



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, chess. they're playing chess. i know, i find it incredibly funny that we now have two lords with brain cells, i like to think they're playing to see whose house has to do the dishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22796293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentext/pseuds/gentext
Summary: “The rules of chess are the same in the Abyss, I assume.”“Surely. Win by taking your opponent to checkmate, take off a piece of clothing for every piece you lose.”“Wha--? No,” Claude says before quickly recovering. “We save that for Wednesday nights in Hilda’s room.”
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc & Claude von Riegan, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 302





	offensive tactics

“You’re sure about this?” Claude asks. “It’s not too late to play checkers.”

Yuri sets the chessboard, idly brushing away a fallen leaf from the table. “I think I can hold my own. Black or white?”

Claude taps his chin thoughtfully. He wonders which Yuri would prefer--white, to go first? Black, because it reminds him of the darkness of the sewers? Maybe he’s overthinking things.

“Black,” Claude finally answers. “Matches our uniforms.”

Yuri gives a polite smile. Claude recognizes the look: he’s sizing up an opponent under the guise of friendly eye contact. He’s done it plenty of times before--Claude flashes Yuri a smile in return--he’s even doing it now.

The two house leaders take their seats, and Yuri moves his first piece. A pawn, two spaces forward; Claude meets him in the center of the board.

“The rules of chess are the same in the Abyss, I assume.”

“Surely. Win by taking your opponent to checkmate, take off a piece of clothing for every piece you lose.”

“Wha--? No,” he says before quickly recovering. “We save that for Wednesday nights in Hilda’s room.” Claude catches the amused expression on his opponent’s face and nonchalantly adjusts the braid on the side of his head. “Hah. You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

Yuri smiles and shrugs. “I couldn’t resist. You’re fun to tease.” Before Claude can respond, he’s moved a pawn to the right of the last. “King’s Gambit.”

Claude thinks for a moment before he takes the newly-moved piece with his own. “I accept.” It’s an aggressive opening. Yuri’s trying to develop his pieces quickly, and Claude concludes that he can’t let him build momentum. He idly wonders what article of clothing Yuri would have removed first when he took his pawn. 

Yuri uses the opening that’s been created to send his bishop forward, and Claude responds by pressuring his king. “Check,” he says, pushing his queen towards Yuri’s end of the board.

Yuri casually sidesteps the queen’s range. It’s too early for this to mean anything, Claude knows, but if he can keep Yuri on the defensive, he can keep the fourth leader from hatching his own schemes. He moves a pawn to threaten Yuri’s exposed bishop.

“Do you play a lot of chess, von Riegan?” Yuri captures his black pawn.

Claude wrinkles his nose. “Just Claude is fine.” He takes the chance to move his wyvern--no, his knight--forward. “My instructor in Almyra was a fan. He taught me how to play.”

“He must have been a good player.” Yuri mirrors his move, putting Claude’s queen within his knight’s capture range. “I’d heard you grew up across the Throat. Is it very different there?”

“Sure,” he says. “For one, bishops are called elephants over there, and the food has more… well. People tend to have a more developed palate.” Claude returns his queen to safety.

“Why do you think the queen is the most powerful piece on the board?” Yuri asks. “Isn’t the king the sovereign ruler?” He moves a pawn.

Claude shrugs. After a moment of thinking, he readies his knight to put Yuri’s king in check. “In Almyra, the piece is called the vizier. I imagine it says something about the influence of advisors. Just look at how many rulers have risen and fallen under their own right-hand.”

“Are you a king then? Or an advisor?” Yuri asks. “I can’t imagine a crown fitting that brain of yours.”

“Hah! You’d be surprised.” Claude dismisses the compliment(?) with a wave of his hand. “I think I’d be very good at sitting around and looking pretty, thank you.”

Yuri seems to contemplate this as he moves his knight. He tilts his head and asks, “Then, are you looking for a vizier, King Claude?”

Their eyes lock for just a second, and Claude’s unsure which of the two potential meanings sends the shiver through his spine. He moves his vizier.

Well into the game, Yuri’s aggressive play has forced Claude to pull back his pieces, giving up the valuable ground he’s gained. Yuri’s bishop threatens his own, but Claude sees a chance to both escape capture and take his opponent’s rook. That’ll allow him to flip the tables in his favor, he decides, as in response, Yuri will be forced to conserve his last tower.

“Ah,” Yuri says neutrally, his voice betraying nothing. He rubs his lips with a well-manicured finger, like he knows something Claude doesn’t. He probably does. Or maybe he’s just nervous--Yuri must know that Claude has the numerical advantage. 

Claude hasn’t lost anything but pawns, while Yuri has given up his bishop, rook, and now, his final tower is being threatened by the black queen. He’ll have to move his rook, allowing Claude to regain offensive momentum--

Yuri finally moves a white pawn, one space forward. He leans back in his chair, poker-faced as ever and fiddling with a strand of lavender hair.

It takes all of Claude’s willpower not to laugh, or roll his eyes, or both. Is he just giving up his pieces? He hadn’t taken Yuri for a sore loser. 

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up already. It’s not over yet.”

Yuri shrugs. “I know what I’m doing. I’ll even raise the stakes.”

Claude can’t tell if this is a desperate bluff or a stubborn pride. “The current ones not high enough for you?”

“If I win, you take me to dinner.”

Claude scoffs in good humor. Has his collar always been this tight? “If this is part of an elaborate ploy to catch me off-guard, you’ll have to try harder, friend.” Then he adds:

“If I win, I want unlimited access to the Abyss’ library. When you expand, you can name a wing after me. The Golden Deer reading nook.”

Yuri laughs gently, a little more nasally, in a lower register than his usual demure chuckle. It’s endearing in a way, he begrudgingly admits.

“And you buy me dinner,” he finishes.

“That can be arranged.” Yuri smiles, unfolding his hands to slide his queen across the board.

“Yuri, are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? I’m about to take your queen with my knight. You can’t be that excited to lighten your wallet.”

Yuri ignores his question. “Have you ever played with anyone else at the monastery? The other lords?”

“Why? Plotting a coup?” Claude captures the white queen with no remorse. “Just kidding. Yeah, I have. You can learn a lot about someone by playing chess with them.”

“Oh?”

“Dimitri’s too defensive,” he says. “He doesn’t like sacrificing his pieces, and he doesn’t know how to make trades. You get the feeling he’d rather be playing Go Fish.”

“And Edelgard?” Yuri casually slides his bishop forward.

“Well, it depends on if Hubert’s hovering over the board constantly whispering in her ear. Usually she’s too focused on forcing a checkmate that she loses sight of the other pieces.”

“And what did you just learn about me?” Yuri stretches out innocently in his chair. “Checkmate, by the way.”

Claude snaps his attention back to the board. There’s no way. Yuri has managed to pin his king with his three remaining pieces.

“Well,” he says. “I learned that you’re a bastard who knows how to win himself a free dinner.”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not really sure what to make of this ship, but i think it's a fun dynamic lol. it's fun having two leaders that work out at the library overthink things over a nerdy activity. 
> 
> also the game is exactly what you think it is, i learned about it from where you think i did, because i have not played chess since i was seven and lost to my friend's younger brother


End file.
